Tag Archives: Iraq War

When we think of war, we think of the unfortunates who died, or were maimed, injured, disfigured. But as this video suggests, the people who survive a war, especially those who killed others, are also often wounded in ways that might not show, but can be even more permanent than than a lost leg.

This video captures a measure of truth that discredits the belief that there was ever a truly reasonable justification for Viet Nam, Iraq, or Afghanistan. Who won those wars? I guarantee that it’s not the soldiers who fought them. Munitions manufacturers might’ve won. Bankers might’ve won. New World Order politicians might’ve won. But the people who did the actual fighting, killing and dying–on both sides–lost.

The truth about war found in the following video is not the only truth. Some people may thrive in war. But for most people, war is hardly heroic, usually horrific–and, at bottom, so damnably stupid that you have to wonder what th’ Hell compels us to go back and do it again, again, and again.

There is something about mankind that seems compelled to engage in war.

How th’ Hell can one generation after another be so stupid and self-destructive? We go to war in hope of becoming a “man”. But as often as not, we come home a cripple. Why can’t the last generation of “warriors” warn the next generation about the absurdity of going to war in someone else’s country? We keep clinging to the lie that war is somehow good or heroic when, in fact, as Marine General Smedley Butler once observed “War is a racket”. At best.

When do we tell the kids that fight our wars that they’re not “fighting for our freedoms”–they’re just fighting for our bankers?

According to Wikipedia, Dr. Dahlia Wasfi was born in 1971 in New York to a Jewish-American mother and Muslim Iraqi father. Dr. Wasfi spent part of her early childhood living in Iraq under Saddam Hussein. She returned to the US at age 5, earned her B.A. in Biology from Swarthmore College in 1993 and her medical degree from University of Pennsylvania in 1997.

Dr. Wasfi visited her family in Iraq in 2004 and 2006, and, based upon her observations of Iraqi civilian life, became an advocate for “immediate, unconditional withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan.” She’s testified in the Iraq Forum of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and the Third International Iraq conference in Berlin, as well as many universities in the U.S. and Canada.

The process of writing has fascinated me ever since I was a Junior in high school. I learned then that I could use writing to learn what I truly thought.

Under unusual circumstances (a girl I had a crush on but never dated had died in an automobile accident), I began to write about my feelings. I started by writing a sentence about “love lost”. The sentence sounded like something out of a romance novel. It was silly, sophomoric and something I’d be expected to say. It was a cliché. It wasn’t really what I thought, it was what I’d been taught by society to think or at least say. I wasn’t thinking. I wasn’t really feeling. When I wrote that first sentence, I was acting.

Unlike talking (which happens almost instantly and without much thinking), the physical process of writing by hand with a pencil took time and forced me to “think about” the words I’d written. By the time I’d finished scribbling my first sentence, I’d spent so much time thinking about the idea I was trying to express, that I knew it wasn’t true. I knew that sentence didn’t truly reflect my thoughts or my feelings–my truth–but I still didn’t know what my true thoughts/feelings were. I didn’t know what was right, but I was sure that what I’d written was wrong.

This is an exceptional video. The speaker is an Army veteran from the Iraq war. He seems to have a slightly leftest slant that I don’t agree with, but I do agree with and celebrate at least 95% of what’s said in this video.

The video is evidence of a growing conflict between the super-rich and the vast majority. This veteran’s concerns are ultimately the same as those that are motivating the Occupy Wall Street movement.

The video is also evidence that the truth will out. Slowly, perhaps– but inevitably, we will see the truth.

But even in the full disclosure of the internet age, there’s always a fundamental problem with truth: does anyone give a damn? Does anyone care about a truth that’s contrary to their income and prosperity? Is the truth merely “interesting,” or is it motivating?

When the truth is motivating, a life and even the world can change. When truth is merely “interesting,” the world goes on as is.

The difference between truth that is “motivating” and truth that is “interesting” is not in the truth itself, or in the person tries to tell the truth. The difference is in the man or woman who sees or hears that truth. The difference between being interested or motivated is not a reaction–it’s a choice. And it’s not an easy choice. There is so much truth available today, and so little personal time and energy that it’s virtually impossible to be motivated by all truth. We can’t fight every battle.

Even so, the uncomfortable choice remains and continues to nag. Do you choose to be “motivated”? Or merely “interested”?

I was on 60 Minutes two weeks ago for being an extremist. However, compared to the video below, my behavior is well within the bell curve for “normal”.

In fact, this video is so well assembled and “in your face,” that is it truly painful to watch. The speaker is so bold and brazen in her statements, that I am embarrassed to live a life that is so (by comparison) “politically correct”.

I don’t agree with the some of the video’s statements. The author blames the problems on “whites”. I would blame those problems on anyone of any race who is, at heart, a “corporatist,” a “fascist” or driven by the love of money. I have a few other quibbles. Nevertheless, assuming the facts cited in the video are essentially true, the video makes me ashamed to be an American.

Even if the video’s facts are not precisely true, the video’s content is horrific. In this case, the truth really does hurt.

If the numbers in this video are correct, we are killing several hundred Iraqi and Afghan children for every American serviceman who dies. I don’t care how you justify the Iraqi and Afghanistan wars, you can’t kill that many children and still claim to be the “good guys”.

Circa A.D. 1900, U.S. Army Major “Black Jack” Pershing (he would later achieve the highest rank possible: “General of the Armies”) was involved in suppressing a rebellion by the “Huks” in the Philippines. The Huks were fierce Muslim warriors. Motivated by their Muslim faith, the Huks did not fear death. If they died fighting in a Jihad, they were guaranteed a trip to Paradise complete with 72, count ’em, 72 virgins.

The Huks therefore fought with such intensity and fearlessness that the Army reportedly developed the .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol to put them down. If they were shot with smaller calibers, they simply kept charging.

Major Pershing realized he was not simply engaged in a shooting war. He was engaged in a spiritual war (Jihad). He adjusted his tactics accordingly and started fighting on a spiritual level. He opted to fight Jihad with the Muslim faith.